BIOGRAPHY

Ayano Gōda was born on 8 March 1909, in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. In 1925, she graduated from Mitoyo All-Girls High School (now Kan’onji First High School) and passed an exam to become an elementary school teacher. While working as an elementary school teacher, she married Seizaburo, a Japanese National Railways employee who was two years older than her, and they had four children together.

In 1943, during World War II, her husband was drafted and sent to Okinawa, where he was killed in action in 1945. She exchanged letters with him many times while he was on the battlefield, but in his last letter, he wrote, “I don’t think I will be able to come back alive. You who are left behind may live a poor life, but please give our children as much education as possible.” It was never determined where and how he died in the end.

On 19 January 1946, after World War II, a propeller bomb washed up on a nearby river. When a neighborhood boy poked it, it exploded, throwing her second son 50 meters and killing him. Shortly after this tragic event, she was informed of her husband’s death in the war. She sat down at the front door, unable to move for several hours. However, she told herself, “It’s hard to raise four children on my own, so my husband came to pick up one of them,” and accepted the situation, resolving to live positively. At that time, her eldest son was a first-year high school student, her eldest daughter was in the third grade of elementary school, and her second daughter was three years old. She worked as a teacher and raised her three remaining children on her own. She worked as an elementary school teacher for 40 years before and after the war, then transitioned to employee training, working as an instructor until she was 77 years old, making her active career span 60 years. Her caring personality was highly praised.

Following her retirement, she served as an officer of the senior citizens’ association until she was 93 years old, remaining active in various community activities within the town, county, prefecture, and the wider Shikoku region.

In an interview at the age of 97, she mentioned keeping the exterior of her house as it was in the past so that her former students would recognize it when they visited. She also attributed her longevity to her love of music, gardening, interacting with people, and laughing all day, saying, “Always think about what’s good for others. If you do that, you won’t have time to think about yourself, and you’ll forget you’re getting old.”

In June 2008, a walking event was held on the coast of Kan’onji City, where she gave a lecture on tips for a long life, such as “talking 80% of the time” and “walking the coast every day.”

RECOGNITION

At the time of her passing, she was the oldest living person in Kagawa Prefecture. Upon her passing, she was succeeded by Kikumi Moriyama.

Her age was verified by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare (MHLW), as well as Ryohei Asano and Yumi Yamamoto, and validated by LongeviQuest on 2 August 2024.

ATTRIBUTION

* “戦死のあなた慕い65年 101歳の合田アヤノさん　沖縄から最後の手紙/賀川” – Asahi Shimbun, 12 August 2010

* “NHK百歳万歳　百二歳は通過点” – Kan’onji Daiichi High School Alumni Association, September 2011

* “県内最高齢の110歳女性死去” – Shikoku Shimbun, 27 December 2019

GALLERY